This Cat Has Claws

28: Dinner

Landon's POV

I knocked on the door only to have someone I didn't recognize open it. I knew it was one of Marley's roommates, I just didn't know which one. They never seemed to be around when I was over, plus Marley and I stayed in her room most of the time anyway.

"You here for Marley?" the girl asked.

"Yeah, is she about ready?" I asked awkwardly.

"I think so. Come on in. Marley! Your boyfriend is here!"

Marley walked out of the bathroom and smiled at me. She looked great. I loved how she just wore whatever she wanted and never felt pressured to dress up or dress down based on certain occasions. I figured she wouldn't dress super formally, so I planned ahead and did the same, only wearing a nice patterned button up and some pants. Marley wore nice ripped jeans and a knit sweater.

"So, are you gonna tell me where we're going to eat?" she asked as I led her to the car I was borrowing from Grandpa.

"It's a nice sushi place I found downtown," I told her.

"Ooo, sushi. Yum."

I stopped the car and put in park. Marley and I both got out of the car and made our way into the restaurant. There were hardly any other customers, so it didn't seem like it was necessary for me to make a reservation two weeks ago. The waiter brought us to our table in the corner by the window. Marley happily took the menu that was handed to her and I did the same.

"There's so much to choose from, I just don't know what to get," she said.

"We can get a bunch of stuff and share it, so choose whatever you want," I told her with a smile.

After ten minutes of debating whether we should share this or that, Marley and I finally made our final decisions and ordered. I couldn't help but think back to almost two months ago when Marley and I weren't even seeing each other much. Thoughts like that plagued my mind time and time again; the image of Marley smashing that guys head into the ground were not ones that would leave me anytime soon. But there was definitely a better way to handle it rather than just running away. I was just glad that I didn't take longer to reach out to her.

"So whose place are we going back to?" Marley asked out of the blue. "Don't get me wrong, I love that you took me out to dinner, but I am hoping that you'll be my dessert."

I scoffed and couldn't help the smile that plastered itself on my face, as well as the slight blush I knew made its way onto my cheeks. I was thankful that the lighting was dim so it wasn't noticeable. That was one thing I loved about Marley. She wasn't one to beat around the bush, and she didn't shy away from vulgarity and spoke her mind.

"If I wasn't living in the dorms I would definitely bring you home," I said finally.

"You're right. It's much easier for us to have sex at my place since I have a room with a door that locks," she grinned mischievously. It was going to be a long night.

"I love you."

"I know."

The waiter arrived with our food and we dove right into the feast. We ordered four different sushi rolls along with some noodles, rice, and teriyaki chicken. Everything was so good and we managed to eat it all.

Around the time we were finishing up and getting ready to order the check, I felt strange. It wasn't strange as in I got poisoned through the food or anything, it was more of just a bad vibe. I could tell Marley felt it too, because when I looked at her face, worry was written all over it. I looked around for the waiter to tell him to bring us our check, but there was no one in sight. Except for two people sitting five tables away from us. One minute everything was fine, the next it was chaos.

Marley became visibly woozy and was about to pass out. While I jumped up and was going to haul our asses out of there, paying no mind to the unpaid bill, those two people sitting five tables away from us had also risen. They stalked over towards us and took a look at what was going on. One guy grabbed onto Marley while the other made his way towards me. Marley was still a little conscious so she thrashed around as much as possible, but her strength had diminished substantially, so she wasn't able to fight him off.

I watched Marley go limp in the other man's arm and I tried to pull her towards me. The guy who was in front of me grabbed my outstretched arm and twisted it behind my back. Now I was facing the window and couldn't see what was happening to Marley. I turned my head as much as possible and caught a glimpse of the one man carry her away through the kitchen and then I passed out.

When I finally came to, the waiter had appeared before me and was shaking me awake. He was probably paid to leave or something otherwise there was no way that every employee in this place would just magically vanish so those guys could take Marley.

"Fucking hell," I said under my breath.

My head hurt and Marley was gone. This was not looking good. And from the looks of things, it wasn't going to be as easy to find and rescue her as it was the first time she was kidnapped in front of me. And I knew Mr and Mrs. Parker would not be happy.

I pulled out my phone and dialled Mr. Parker's number. After two quick rings, he picked up. "Hey, she was taken again. They put something in either her food or drink. I'm trying to remember what I didn't eat because I'm fine."

"Okay. Come over and we'll sort this thing out."

"I'm worried that this won't be as easy as last time."

"No, son. It won't be. Can you swing by Marley's place? She took some files with her that we'll need to look at. I don't think she got through them, but she was going to when she had time so they should just be on her desk."

"Alright. I'll come be there in 30."

I hung up and grabbed Marley's purse and headed to her house. At least I could get inside her house easily and get the files. When I got in the car, I realized it was almost ten already. Had I been passed out that long? That probably wasn't a good sign. I sighed and drove.